It is a notorious issue vibes have. Vertical play. - not axial. If you have axial play you. Need new bearings in your blocks. I have about .25mm of vertical play. You can try shimming it and snugging the collar as best you can but it is a common issue.

i have horizontal play and the heli had it before it even had a drop of fuel through it..

Now that is odd. I don't have that. I finishd installing the new bearing blocks last night - parts came and I checked this. Tightened the blocks into place with the main shaft in place to make sure it was all lined up perfectly. Main shaft drops in like butter - rotates very smoothly. I tugged on it a little bit to check for play and have zero. Perhaps after a dozen flights i'll check it again but right now she feels very tight.

Now that is odd. I don't have that. I finishd installing the new bearing blocks last night - parts came and I checked this. Tightened the blocks into place with the main shaft in place to make sure it was all lined up perfectly. Main shaft drops in like butter - rotates very smoothly. I tugged on it a little bit to check for play and have zero. Perhaps after a dozen flights i'll check it again but right now she feels very tight.

ya im pretty dissapointed and not sure what to do. im wonderinf ig im bgoing to have to buy new bearing blocks/bearings or machine a new shaft.. do you think the older vibe 50 bearing blocks would fit ? i dont see why not. have any suggestions for me ?

ya im pretty dissapointed and not sure what to do. im wonderinf ig im bgoing to have to buy new bearing blocks/bearings or machine a new shaft.. do you think the older vibe 50 bearing blocks would fit ? i dont see why not. have any suggestions for me ?

How old is your mainshaft? Do you have your main shaft collar spaced correctly on the mainshaft so there is zero up and down play? Just thinking out loud here. Where in the shaft is there the most play or is it the same all throughout no matter where you pull on it?

V3D blocks should fit fine. They're pretty cheap. Be worth a try to buy a set of them and try them out, preferably with a new main shaft and collar and see what that does.

How old is your mainshaft? Do you have your main shaft collar spaced correctly on the mainshaft so there is zero up and down play? Just thinking out loud here. Where in the shaft is there the most play or is it the same all throughout no matter where you pull on it?

V3D blocks should fit fine. They're pretty cheap. Be worth a try to buy a set of them and try them out, preferably with a new main shaft and collar and see what that does.

main shaft had the play the day it was built. the shaft has zero play up and down..the play seems the same throughout. i have a new shaft in the package and will prolly order v3d main bearing blocks

Work done:
-New main bearing blocks, main shaft and collar.
-Disassembled and cleaned one way bearing hub. Put main and auto gear back on with fresh loctite and cleaned and re-greased OWB.
-Quick UK needle valve adjusters added
-New links and linkages ALL around along with Da Vinci 2.5mm turnbuckles from bellcranks to swash and swash to blade grips. Links had to be drilled out from 2mm to 2.5mm for proper fitment.
-Align metal servo wheels with 3x8mm cap bolts added
-CNC metal swash mixer arm, A-arm, and A-arm base.
-New tail pitch control links
-ASG metal pitch slider and carbon arm
-Synergy head
-New glow plug

Looking good DC. I have all the parts to convert to FBL now. I'm trying out a set of the new Spektrum HV Servos. Have the JR FBL head parts, and a new IKON FBL unit. Also have a YS 55 to upgrade from the 50, but I may hold on that.

Upgraded a few of my birds to carbon pushrod assemblies this weekend. The Vibe got the same treatment. Used a 3/4 inch carbon rod with stainless endcaps and Quick UK "Rocket City" links. Big beefy links fit perfectly on the JR balls. The center guide and stainless slider are Align units I had laying around. The cleans up the boom a lot and is sooooo much stiffer. Tail should feel more locked in now and hopefully I can ramp up my gain another few clicks for those fast funnels.

It is a Quick UK hardened steel/polished hub with Gforce grips that have built in "chinese weights" to help eliminate the centrifugal self-centering forces of the pitch slider at full rpm. They are nice grips but pretty hard to find these days.

Anyone still flying the vibe? Seems like this heli is slowly getting pushed out of the heli community.

Nevrtheless i'm still loving mine. It has been almost two years since the last time i've flown anything, but this weekend was the time i went back to helis. I made sure my whole fleet went airborne. Here are two pics

I've been flying primarily electrics mostly this season, but I took the day off on Thursday and got the Vibe out to my local turf field. Hadn't started it for almost 10 months now with the motor full of after-run keeping it fresh. Took it to the field and spent the first hour of the morning just function testing everything without blades, canopy etc. Getting it started, letting it run, checking for leaks etc. I replaced all the fuel tubing with Lynx fuel line this past winter and also installed a new fuel tank, new fuel stays, and an OS bubbles clunk. To my amusement she started right up and idled perfectly. After a couple more heat cycles I fueled up and set off.

This is my nitro "trainer" - it really is the perfect little nitro heli for me. I've spent a lot of time making it better and doing various upgrades to the airframe, but I still fly it pretty hard despite the fact that parts are now pretty scarce for it.

I put three hard flights through it, the first of which was mostly a tuning flight, and the last flight I couldn't resist smacking it off the deck.

Quick shot of the last start-up of the day my gf took while I was busy;